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- Aspirin has been stopped for Molly
Hi Everyone
Thank you so much for such speedy replies, I know you know this but it makes such a difference knowing you are there & understand what we’re going through.
Molly has been allowed home this evening which is amazing. Her PCV is now 23, up by 2 on yesterday. The lab blood work has shown she is still regenerating & her white blood cell count is slowly coming down.
She is off the IV, eating and drinking, much more steady on her feet & whilst she’s still v pale she is no longer jaundiced.
She is now on:
Aza 50mg every other day.
Pred 25mg twice a day
Antibiotics twice a day
Ranitidine 3 times a day an hour before a meal.
She is eating chicken, fish, the super-duper vet food & lots of treats!
She’s drinking lots as expected.
I have two immediate concerns & would appreciate advice if you can help please:
1 – Her breathing is still heavy & rapid especially when she’s asleep. She’s wacked out so is sleeping lots & whilst the vet team are happy it’s weird to see for us. Has anyone else experienced this with their poorly fur babies?
2 – Our lead vet has said Molly now doesn’t need aspirin as her last transfusion was 5 days ago & the clotting risk has now gone. I checked this twice with her this evening & she’s adamant Molly doesn’t need the aspirin. However, I’ve seen your recommendation is that aspirin is crucial.
Our vet team have been absolutely incredible but I’m concerned about the lack of anti-coagulant. If we choose to add aspirin ourselves what is the recommended dose? What is your collective view on potentially ignoring vet advice on this point?
Thanks again for your help, support & kind words
Leza
Leza, Molly is doing great by the sounds of things.
The heavy rapid breathing is a side effect of the prednisone, as well as it making them very tired. This pretty much always happens. There’s a good explanation of the side effects in the glossary term for prednisone, part of the AIHA Terms above, but here is the link
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone/
With the aspirin, sometimes it’s not necessary, but in most cases it is. It usually depends on what blood is doing. Do you have a copy of Molly’s CBC. If so, attach it to the Urgent Advice
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/urgent-advice/
and someone can check it for you.
What does Molly weigh?
If you’d like a medicine chart, you can email me and set out the times you’re doing:
(deleted) I’ll delete my email after a day or so, or after I hear from you.
My very best,
Vally & Bingo
Hi Leza
As Vally says, the heavy breathing is usual when they are on prednisone – we’ve all seen that with our dogs too. And they are really tired, not wanting to do much – keep her nice & comfy & quiet for now. When the prednisone dose can be reduced (be patient on this too) this will pass & she will slowly get her energy back. I expect she will be a very hungry girl too – their appetite becomes huge! Worzel was eating tons more & was still losing weight (common). He soon got better though.
The abnormal clotting issue is vitally important. It isn’t just the transfusion that causes risks, it’s the disease itself. Most dogs, although not all, do need anti-clotting medications which sometimes need to be continued for quite a long time, I’m afraid, & I want you to be absolutely sure. Please look at this list of causes carefully – you can print it & take it to the vets if you want:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/abnormal-clotting/
Spherocytes & auto-agglutination can be seen on a blood smear – a slide preparation that can be viewed under the microscope. There is also something called a Coombs Test. Your vet may have done these things, but please, please check to make sure to put your mind at rest (and mine!). I am a terrible nag about this because it is the biggest risk with this disease. If none of the things listed are present in Molly’s blood, she doesn’t need anti-clotting meds – if ANY of them are, she definitely does.
You can send us any results & we’ll have a look for you – sometimes a pathologist or vet has examined a blood smear & makes comments on the blood test results. Do you know if your vet has treated this disease before? Here is a Cornell University Veterinary study showing just how important anti-clotting medications are:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15934255?dopt=Abstract
Let us know how you get on – I know how difficult this is for you – hope this helps you to be able to discuss this fully with the vets.
Love Sheena x
Hi Vally and Sheena
Thanks so much for the articles and advice.
It’s never occurred to me to ask for the lab reports. We’re in the UK, do you know if it’s common practice here?
We’re seeing our vet in the morning so I’ll take the clotting article & talk it through with her as I’m not sure if/which of the causes Molly has.
Molly’s doing well today. Still freaking us out with her breathing but I feel much better about that after your info and we’ll get used to it or we’ll be so knackered we’ll have no choice but to do so & get some sleep! She’s snoring like an old man which had us giggling at 3am :) She’s eating well as expected, is definitely a little stronger as she’s been walking around the house this evening looking for more to eat bless her.
Sheena – I’ll be assertive with our Vet about the aspirin ;) Thanks so much again for the advice and reminding me that it’s OK to challenge if I feel it’s necessary.
Vally – Thank you for the offer of the medicine chart, I’ll email you the details as we’re definitely going to need organisation with the meds.
I’m so grateful for your help, it’s just so kind of you. Thank goodness for you all :)
I’ll update after we see our vet tomorrow.
Lots of love and extra special (pale) doggy licks from Molly too
Xxxx
Hi Leza and Molly. I am so sorry you are going through this but glad you found this site. Although, I have been gone way too much lately, I do check in, but seldom, lately, have time to write due to life getting in the way. But thank goodness for the others right now. We have been right where you are (Sadie’s Story) and are with you all the way. Ask away – nothing is too trivial.
All the posts and advice, of course, are right on for Molly- as it was for me and my Sadie – goodness, years ago. I did want to add, that Sadie was on aspirin until recently (we’re so low on the prednisone now, not needed), but was on human Plavix (Clopidogrel, generic) in the beginning. Her vet put her on it immediately upon diagnosis and with the beginning of her AIHA treatment, thank goodness.
Please continue to keep us posted and know that we are here for you and Molly. In the meantime, we are sending our love and hang-in-there hugs,
Linda and Sadie
Hi All
I’ve just realised that I haven’t advised on Molly’s weight – she was 20.4 kg on Mon (2 days ago) so maybe a little heavier now.
Also Sheena asked about our vet’s experience -she has treated this condition twice in the last 3 yrs however Molly has taken longer to respond to the treatment. The other dogs were a Newfoundland & a terrier cross so it may be due to Molly having a bit of spaniel in her mix.
I’ve read the Cornell research, it’s powerful stuff.
Is there any risk in Molly having the aspirin as I really don’t understand why our vet would be so adamant about this? She’s researched extensively for Molly so she must have seen similar studies.
Thanks v much
L&M xxx
Hi Leza
We are also from the UK – we lived about 20 mins outside Oxford & moved to France in 2007, so I know exactly what you are saying. Fellow Blighty’s then! I think it depends on your relationship with your vet as to getting the results without specifically asking – we were very lucky that our vets were superb where we used to live, BUT goodness before that, I’ve had some not so good ones over there too. In my opinion, you should be entitled to any test results – you have paid for them, so they really do belong to you – I’m sure you could very politely insist on copies. I do remember being shown some in the past over there, but not being given a copy unless I asked. Anyway, you can get round that little problem, I’m sure.
We would really like to see any test results, especially any blood tests & pathology slides/smears – it would help us to help you. I had never heard of this awful IMHA until Worzel was diagnosed & had to do a lot of research & learn as much as I could as I wanted to know EXACTLY what I was dealing with. Some of the lovely people on this site helped me through that very bad situation & now it is my turn to help, I hope. Regarding the anti-clotting meds (again!), if you are unsure about anything, we can help if we could see those results in full. I know you will be forceful if you need to be – you will look after Molly, I have no doubt.
The UK does not have such a high incidence of IMHA as in other countries, probably because we don’t have so many tick borne diseases at the moment. But they do exist & no doubt it will get worse with global warming, animals travelling more, more vaccinations etc. This also means that vets don’t have the experience of seeing & treating the disease either – that’s no disrespect to them at all. It’s very rare, full stop. Your vets have done a really great job getting her through the first stages & hopefully will be open to suggestions too.
As Patrice mentioned, we are very interested in Molly eating snails – this definitely could be a trigger. I remember before I left the UK, that many more cases of something called lungworm (also called French heartworm – not to be confused with another type of heartworm we have here) were being reported in dogs, which is extremely dangerous. This worm is sometimes found on slug, snails & their slime & can cause blood abnormalities – has she had a recent cough at all? Some dogs can be infected, but have no symptoms. One of the several blood problems lungworm can cause includes hypochromic anaemia (which means pale coloured red cells with a low count) &/or bleeding problems. A possibility. Worth testing for maybe? – here’s some info:
http://en.wikivet.net/Angiostrongylosis
http://www.dfordog.co.uk/article-be-lungworm-aware.html
Last boring question bit – what antibiotics is Molly on & what for? That might give us a clue as to the cause too.
It’s wonderful to hear Molly is eating well – you will have to give her more food – my greedy boy was always ravenous on the pred too. Feed me, feed me NOW! I always feel happier when they get their appetite back & want to be a little more active. She is doing really well, Leza.
Let us know how you get on tomorrow – sending loads of hugs from me & my boys
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxxxx
Me again – we were typing at the same time, I expect. Good to know your vet has seen this before – it helps such a lot. If your vet is sure Molly does not need anti-clotting meds, that is fine – but please humour me & ask the questions again tomorrow. Maybe ask why she doesn’t need it instead? I appreciate how awkward this is.
Dogs who have bone marrow failure or extravascular haemolysis (rather than intravascular haemolysis) do not need usually anti-clotting meds unless transfused. If Molly has low platelets or a bleeding disorder, she should definitely not have aspirin. Without the blood results, we are struggling a bit. Sorry.
Sheena x